Federal Judge Raag Singhal, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2019, has dismissed a $475 million defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against CNN.
The former president claimed that CNN’s use of the term “big lie” to describe his election fraud allegations associated him with Adolf Hitler, which he deemed defamatory.
In his ruling on Friday night, July 28, Judge Singhal asserted that CNN’s statements were expressions of opinion, not factual claims, and, therefore, did not qualify as grounds for defamation. Although he acknowledged that the network’s words were repugnant, he concluded that they did not meet the legal standard for defamation.
A spokesperson for Trump responded to the ruling, saying that they agreed with the judge’s description of CNN’s treatment of Trump and his supporters as ‘repugnant.’ However, the statement did not specify whether Trump planned to appeal the decision.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2022, pointed out five instances in which CNN referenced Trump’s claims about the 2020 election as the “big lie.” Trump’s legal team argued that this phrase, with its association with Nazi propaganda, intentionally connected him with a reprehensible figure from history.
However, Judge Singhal explained that the mere use of the term “big lie” was insufficient to create a defamatory connotation. He said that no reasonable viewer would, or should, infer such a connection based solely on that phrase.
Donald Trump has frequently criticized media outlets that he dislikes, often singling out CNN as a preferred target since his first presidential campaign in 2015.
Despite facing state and federal indictments, Trump remains the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The dismissal of the lawsuit has cleared the way for CNN to avoid the substantial financial claim made by the former president.